Fats 8.
Gibbs was working in his basement when he heard the front door open and close quietly. Footsteps above sounded hesitant and slowly descended into the basement. "Hey boss," Tim greeted on a Sunday afternoon. "Bought you some sausage rolls over, I made them. Tobias and Emily loved them."
"Thanks McGee." He said as the duo retreated upstairs and Gibbs put on a pot of coffee.
"I'm having my DNA ran." Tim told him after a moment. "Don't expect to find much, but it can't hurt."
"Oh Tim," Gibbs sighed "that could be inviting trouble into your life. But if you want my help, I'll help."
"I do plan on doing a background check on them before I do anything. I am not that stupid." Tim argued, feeling hurt by Gibbs' insinuation.
"I didn't mean it like that." Gibbs told him, feeling frustrated at McGee.
"Sure" Tim left it alone. He didn't like arguing, especially with Gibbs. He knew he and Gibbs rarely got along, but he was certainly thought they were past the doubting part of their relationship.
They finished their coffees in silence. As Tim stood up to leave, "Let me know when you're free, to finish the cabinets and counter tops. The house now has an alarm system, so I'll have to let you in." Tim told him, re-telling him the story of how he caught someone snooping around.
"Not sure when I'll be able to get to it," Gibbs told him honestly. "Abby's roadster is making that clunking sound again."
"That's fine," Tim told him. "I do have to hire a contractor, for a small job that needs to go through with building permits from the county. If it's easier for you, I'll just get them to install them, too."
Gibbs walked Tim out the car. "Are you leaving NCIS?" Gibbs confronted him. "Leaving the team?"
"No," Tim answered unbelievably, having no idea what bought that question on. "Why would you think that?!"
"You went with Vance to that seminar. It was supposed to be Tony or Ziva." Gibbs told him, straight up why he thought he might be leaving.
"Tell me how Tony, or Ziva would have enjoyed a seminar on cyber-terrorism? They talked about how to write computer codes to combat it and defend against it. Can they write computer codes? I'll see you tomorrow morning." Tim told Gibbs and he got in his car, leaving without looking back.
"You actually made an appointment, Gibbs!" Vance exclaimed as Gibbs came in at his designated appointment time. "I'm impressed."
"Don't get used of it. I did it with a full head of steam." Gibbs admitted, shyly.
"What can I do you for?" Vance asked, he could see the man was stressed and still possibly upset about something. Very unGibbs-like.
"Is McGee leaving us? … NCIS? Is he leaving?" Gibbs asked. Leon thought he'd never heard Gibbs sound so unsure of himself before. He didn't like it.
"Not to my knowledge." Vance answered. "The FBI are always sniffing around to recruit him, we both know that. Sweeney was buttering him up at the seminar, but nothing more than what any other head hunter would do."
"Crap!" Gibbs exclaimed in frustration. "I asked him. Confronted him would be more like it. About the seminar and about leaving. Tim denied that he was leaving."
"Well, you should trust what he says." Leon watched Gibbs for a moment. He could see the internal battle raging inside him. "You do trust him, right?"
"Of course I do, it's just it's normally Tony or Ziva that do the seminars. It didn't make sense sending McGee."
"Why the hell not?!" Vance boomed. He had known McGee had felt like an outcast on the team, but to have Gibbs stand there and admit it.
"Only SFA's and their partners do the seminars." Gibbs shrugged, not really seeing the point.
"All agents are eligible to do seminars, something I shouldn't have to remind you about when it comes time to delegating the next one. Might I also remind you that you're a team. You don't have partners." Vance facepalmed his head in frustration at Gibbs. "You need to pull yourself together and pull your head in while you're at it or Tim will leave. He's just about ready to be promoted to a SFA position. I know he bought a house, that in my opinion he can't afford and he has a life happening here. That's the only reason I haven't promoted him yet, because I don't want to transfer him away from DC, too. But mark my words, I am looking still and I will transfer him if I have to, Gibbs. To avoid the inevitable argument that I am sure you have, dismissed!"
Gibbs had a huge head of steam worked up now, bigger than before, after his appointment in Vance's office and he couldn't understand why it upset him so much. It seemed that every time he thought about McGee, he was more angry and upset with the man. He felt like he'd been stabbed in the back by him and he couldn't seem to rein himself in. He sat there and remembered back to when he first felt upset at McGee. 'Ever since he left for New Orleans with Abby' he thought. 'Abby had been prattling on about how McGee wouldn't cover in her in the lab so she could come back home. How McGee would hate it here. How McGee would think it's dull here. Then Abby proceeded to drag him to six different places after work each night because McGee would never have let her, if he was here. Abby had been mouthing off about McGee at every turn and I hadn't even noticed.' Gibbs realised.
He looked up from his contemplation and saw Tony and Ziva had both arrived, but no McGee. 'Damn it, where is he?' Gibbs thought again and noticed he was getting even more worked up at McGee. "Where's McGee?" Gibbs snapped, sounding as angry as he felt.
"Dentist" Ziva lied automatically, concerned for her friend and fellow agent.
"Traffic." As did Tony at the exact same time.
"Ah-ha." Gibbs surmised and said nothing else. He knew both of them were lying, most likely to protect McGee.
"Tony, Ziva, never lie for me again. You suck at it." Tim said, coming down the stairs from MTAC. Gibbs thought Tim looked a lot more tired than usual, like he'd barely slept at all. "Been in MTAC since a few minutes after midnight this morning." Tim explained, retrieving his weapon. "Right now, I'm going for a break, I'll bring you up to speed when I return." He was in desperate need for coffee, not having had any since yesterday afternoon. He had a headache building from staring at code half the night and writing code from somewhere around 0400, when he'd worked out how to fix the encryption that had been hacked on the secure MTAC feed. He had beta tested it too, before implementing it and connected with his friend Cassie Yates in Singapore to confirm that the new encryption was working correctly.
"No time McGee!" Gibbs told him. "We're in the gym, this morning. Let's go."
Tim begrudgingly placed his sig and clip back in his locked draw and grabbed his gym bag. In the gym, Gibbs instructed in his best drill sergeants voice for Tony and Ziva to do hand to hand and it'd be he and McGee in the ring.
Tim felt like he'd gone ten rounds with Muhammad Ali by the time, Gibbs called "switch" to him and Ziva. Tony took one look at Tim and couldn't bring himself to practice hand to hand combat with him. "Don't go easy on him, DiNozzo. He'll never learn otherwise." Gibbs bellowed when he saw Tony try to usher Tim into the locker room.
"Sorry Probie." Tony said before he moved in and started their hand to hand training.
"Come on DiNozzo!" Gibbs griped from the ring. "I know you can do better than that. A perps not going to go easy on him."
"ENOUGH !" Tony boomed at Gibbs. "Just enough! Look at him." The whole room had stopped to take in DiNozzo telling his boss off. Tim was on his back. Wincing in pain, gasping for air. He had a split lip and a bruising forming along his eye socket on one side and jawline along the other side. "You've been particularly hard on Tim since you got back from New Orleans for no reason. Now I'm taking him to Ducky." Tony hoisted Tim off the ground and Ziva ripped off her gloves to go help Tony with Tim and the trio left him alone in the gym.
Ducky was surprised to look up from his paperwork and see Timothy being carried in, almost literally by Tony and Ziva. "What's happened my dear lad?" He asked immediately, as he came over to meet them.
"Over-zealous physical training instructor." Tim answered.
Tony head slapped Tim gently. "Tell the damn truth." He spat out in anger. "Gibbs did this!"
"Jethro?" Ducky asked in shock. He couldn't believe his friend would do this.
"Ducky we are sure. Both Ziva and I stopped our training and watched. We both intervened twice, only to be ignored. When Gibbs finally called switch, I couldn't in good conscience continue. Gibbs is so pissed at me, now too."
"I'm the one he's angry with" Tim said between pants and gasps. "Not you. That wasn't the normal aggression he had in the boxing ring."
"Agreed. That was on another level, yes?" Ziva added.
Ducky examined the young man who sat before him on the autopsy table. He had yawned no less than six times in a minute and was doing his best, to fight off sleep. "I am going to send you home, Timothy. You need some rest." Ducky told him. "Let's get you upstairs and into the bullpen to grab your gear."
Tony had double backed to the gym to grab Tim's gym bag and saw Gibbs alone, still going, this time with the bag. Everyone else was giving him a wide berth. "Is Tim ok?" Balboa asked Tony as he arrived at the bullpen.
"Don't think he's going to be any good today. Probably going to take a week or so for that bruising to go down."
Vance had been preparing for a meeting when he'd heard the commotion down stairs. As he came down on his way to the meeting in the hill, he saw Tim gingerly moving and he visibly winced when the young agent looked at him. "I'm not staying." He told Vance. "Ducky wants me at home, resting."
"For at least today, he wants to see you tomorrow, before you start work." Tony added, finishing Ducky's order before the Director could ask.
"I'm extending Ducky's order to include tomorrow off, also." Vance added. "As for this incident, Agents' DiNozzo and David, incident reports written in full detail. Before you think of covering for anyone, may I remind you that this entire building has CCTV and I have access to that footage."
"Yes sir." They simultaneously answered.
"Will you be ok, to drive yourself home?" Vance asked, looking at the swelling of and around his left eye. "Don't lie to me, Tim!"
"I'll get a cab." Tim told him.
"I'll have Mr Palmer drive you home. I can spare him for that." Ducky offered kindly.
"Doctor Mallard, I'll need an incident report from you too, I'm afraid and a medical report."
Tony and Ziva helped get Tim settled into an agency sedan and Tony gave him Tim's new address. When they arrived, Tim thanked the autopsy assistant, waited until he drove off, then trekked across the road into the Fornell home.
Ducky returned to his office and dialled his counterpart at the FBI before being asked to be transferred to speak with Agent Fornell.
"Fornell, phone call line five." Sacks called out. "It's the NCIS medical examiner."
"Ducky! This is a surprise." Tobias said as he come on the phone.
"Unfortunately, what I have to tell you will be a surprise for you. I was doing some routine paperwork when young Timothy was bought in to me, in dire need of medical attention. It seems there was a training mishap. I've had Mr Palmer drive him to his house. I understand you live not too far away from him, I was wondering if you could check on the lad for me on your way home from work. I have an appointment at the opposite end of the town and can not get over there much until later. I fear Timothy will be asleep by then and I do not wish to wake him."
"Is he ok?" Tobias asked. "Look, I'll do you one better, as soon as we hung up. I'm going over there." Fornell vowed. "Give me your cell number, just in case." Ducky rattled off his cell phone number.
"Please do phone me if I can be of anymore assistance." Ducky told him, before bidding him a goodbye.
Ducky hovered over the emergency contact on Timothy's 201 file, contemplating what to do. He eventually removed Jethro Gibbs as the contact and replaced it with Tobias Fornell. He rummaged around in his rolodex and found Fornell's card and added his cell number, making a mental note to find his home number and add it too.
Fornell explained that he had a family emergency to take care of and packed up his gear and headed home, thanking his lucky stars he wasn't on a hot case. He pulled up at home and quietly let himself inside. He saw Tim stretched out in his bedroom, the door wide open. Tobias couldn't tell if he was awake or not but he was furious at the sight of Tim. Fornell pulled out his cell phone and took some close up photos of Tim's face before sending them to Vance and demanding an explanation from the Director of NCIS. In his eyes, this was completely unacceptable.
Gibbs took himself off to the showers, to wash up after his gym workout. He had no idea where his team was and at that moment, he really didn't care. He was upset with Tony for calling a halt to McGee's training. He was upset at Ziva for abandoning her own training with him but most of all, he was upset with himself. He hadn't meant to unleash all that anger at McGee. He hoped he hadn't hurt him too badly.
He headed down to autopsy to find out that Ducky was in the field with Balboa's team collecting a Skelton that had been found. "Hey Palmer" Gibbs greeted the ME's assistant as he returned from somewhere.
"Sorry Agent Gibbs, I can't talk right now. I must prepare for Doctor Mallard's return." Jimmy cut him off, effectively dismissing him. Which was very unlike Jimmy, but right now he was very angry at the team leader and he didn't want to get into it here.
"Ah Gibbs," Vance greeted him, from the mezzanine above. He had returned from his meeting in the hill, read the reports from DiNozzo, David and Dr Mallard and had been laying in wait for the senior team leader to return. His phone had buzzed from Fornell, demanding an explanation. But he'd have to wait, he needed the explanation first. "Nice of you to join us. My office, now!"
Gibbs begrudgingly climbed the stairs, his whole body was starting to ache and 'it served myself right.' He thought.
"Where's my team?" He grumbled, having noticed that they weren't in the bullpen.
"David and DiNozzo are following up on some questioning for a cold case." Vance vaguely explained, not elaborating for the team leader.
"McGee?" Gibbs asked, he knew he needed to speak to the young agent. He was thinking tracking him down so he could apologise in private. 'McGee is probably hiding out in the lab, having Abby pamper him, to avoid being alone in the bullpen. No matter how angry she claims to be at him, she will still pamper him.' He thought.
"Think it's safe to say, he won't want to be on your team anymore after this. On Ducky's, as well as my own orders, he has been sent home. What the hell happened?" Vance asked, he was consciously controlling his breathing. He had never been angry at an agent, than what he was at Gibbs in this moment.
"I need to apologise, I don't know what happened. I just lost it." Gibbs resigned, lowering his head in defeat. "I think I need help." He admitted in a small voice.
"When it comes to McGee, you've always been careless and neglectful. What made today any different?"
"I've never beat an agent to pulp in sparring training either." Gibbs added, trying to support his point.
"I should warn you, I've got Fornell breathing down my neck too, demanding an explanation. He is seething mad and rightfully so." Vance warned. "I believe Ducky had him check on McGee."
"He's still living with Fornell. He has no cabinetry yet, I was supposed to be installing it as soon as I returned."
"Instead you seem to have uncontrollable anger issues at him and pulverised him. You're an adult, no one is forcing you to do it. If you don't want to do it, don't. You tell him no, you do not use him as a punching bag."
"I don't know what to say." Gibbs admitted. "I don't know what is wrong with me."
"I do, you're suspended for one whole month. Leave your weapon in your locked desk drawer. You must complete a mandatory anger management program and speak with Dr Grace or Dr Cranston. I will be following up to ensure it's completed and you've followed all of their recommendations." Vance ordered. "What you did today was completely unacceptable, as an agent, a team leader and as a human being. In your absence, I'm assigning your team to Agent DiNozzo. Agent David will step into the JFA position and upon Tim's return to work from medical leave, he will become DiNozzo's SFA. You are to leave Agent McGee alone, unless he seeks you out first. Before you quote your rule six at me or him, remember you owe him an explanation too."
"Yes sir!" Gibbs said with acceptance in his voice.
"Now I need to deal with an angry Agent Fornell. He is going to explode when he finds out the truth." Vance said angrily.
"I guess it'll be friendship over there, too. I just can't believe I did it. What was I thinking?"
"Dismissed, Gibbs! I'll be in touch." Vance stated with finality.
Fornell's cell phone finally started vibrating, indicating an incoming call. He was in his bedroom, where he hoped Tim couldn't hear him. He wanted his friend to rest. He snatched it up and greeted the caller by name, rather than his usual greeting. He had been anxious to hear from wha the caller had to say. "I have reviewed the CCTV and read the incident reports of those involved. The other agent involved has been suspended and ordered to anger management." Vance informed him immediately, avoiding the pleasantries also.
"This wasn't a training mishap, that agent beat up a fellow agent in the training ring. Where the hell was Gibbs while Tim was being pulverised?" Fornell asked. "I don't know how you run things over there, but in the FBI, I can assure you that it wouldn't fly here. Tim's eye is swollen shut, he can barely open his mouth. Not to mention what this is going to do to his confidence when he realises that a fellow agent did this. Not a suspect."
"I am concerned about that, too." Vance admitted.
"Last week at the seminar, I watched Tim as he spoke with several people. I thought 'look at him, gone are his probie days where he was stumbling and shy. He's found his confidence.' Tim was the shy and stumbling probie, it took him a while to find his footing, but I was so proud of him, once he did."
"You've known McGee a while then?" Vance asked, curiously. He hadn't known exactly how long, but he expected that Fornell had known McGee for a while now.
"Met him in '01 at FLETC, the man has a brilliant mind, too smart for his own good, could hardly string two words together. Saw him again in '02 when he was TAD for Gibbs. I was impressed by what I'd seen. When Gibbs had just transferred him to the team in '03, I saw more and more of him. I have watched the man grow, he's consulted on FBI cases for me, we've worked cases together. Anyone can see how much he's grown, even Gibbs knows." Tobias explained, wistfully looking back. "Speaking of Gibbs, where is hell is he? He's usually hanging around like a bad smell when one of them are sick or injured."
"Agent Gibbs' whereabouts aren't your concern, although if he shows up to see McGee. Call me, as he will be in violation of his suspension." Vance said, before finishing the call.
Tobias has continued to sit in his room, he'd snatched up Tim's cell from the bedside table too. He'd let the man sleep. Tim's cell rang and Fornell answered it, it was the contractor that Tim was hiring to have a wall removed between the small study and the old storage room upstairs. Tim had planned to create a larger study with the actual space instead of claiming a bedroom to do so.
He organised to meet the contractor tomorrow morning at Tim's place, before calling in for the rest of the week. Then he dialled Gibbs cell and it went to voicemail. "Gibbs, explain yourself. What the hell is going on over there? Tim's eye is swollen shut and he can barely open his jaw. Now you're unreachable, isn't that a violation of one of your rules. Call me back!" He fumed.
Gibbs was meeting Dr Cranston in a cafe he knew she liked to frequent. It was the same cafe her sister used as her preferred caffeine dealer. "Gibbs," she greeted him. It always impressed her that he always had a hot coffee waiting for her.
"Doc." Gibbs replied, with a nod and a gentle nod of his tall paper cup that held his liquid ambrosia.
"I understand that Vance has mandated this session along with an anger manage course. Tell me what happened." She asked, before he proceeded to explain what had happened in New Orleans, Tim's visit to his house and right up to and including the sparring training.
"I see." She said, pursing her lips together. "What do you think is the next step."
"I don't know, Doc. That's why I'm here." Gibbs replied, frustrated. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
"Ok then, let's come back to that. What do you hope to gain from this?" She asked him, hoping he knew the answer.
"I already told you, I don't know, Doc. That's why I'm here." Getting more frustrated.
"Looks like you're going to need some more formal sessions as well. I just have another question before we really begin. What's the consequences of your actions?" She asked, hoping once more for an acceptable answer.
"My actions have consequences. I'm probably going to lose an agent, a friend and probably lose one of my best friends too." Gibbs answered honestly and sadly.
"Congratulations, you got one right. You admitted that your actions will have consequences for you. I am curious, how will you lose one of your best friends?"
"McGee … ah Tim, he has a strong friendship with my friend too."
"Why would a friend as good as that take sides?" Rachel asked him, swirling the coffee in her cup to stir it.
"My friend, he and Tim share a friendship of sorts. Sometimes, he treats him like a son."
"Are you jealous?" Gibbs glared at her with raised eyebrows. "It's a simple question, Gibbs. You used to treat my sister like a daughter. I've seen you treat Abby and Agent David like a daughter and Agent DiNozzo like a son. Is it so hard to believe you could be jealous of your friend because he treats Agent McGee like a son and you don't have that connection with him?" She asked, getting to the crux of the problem.
"Call him Tim, not Agent McGee. I've been trying not to use McGee too much at the moment, he not long ago found out that the man he thought was his biological father his whole life, isn't. He doesn't know who is his father." Gibbs instructed her, gently.
"Ok, we're going to put a pin in this for today. Let's schedule some formal sessions in, starting tomorrow morning at 9am, my office."
"See ya then, Doc."
Tim woke up and his body ached, he bought himself out into the he kitchen for some ibuprofen, water and coffee. "Ready to tell me who did this?" Tobias asked from the table, watching Tim jump from his skin.
"Damn Tobias, make a sound next time." Tim warned, scolding himself with the hot coffee. "Gibbs got over-zealous in the boxing ring, that's all." Tim explained.
"Gibbs did this?!" Tobias asked, shocked and angry at his so called friend. He gently held Tim's face towards the light and took a better look. "That bastard." He seethed.
"It was my fault." Tim said, taking the blame himself. "I was off my game after working on the MTAC security encryption all night. We'd had a cyber attack on MTAC. Vance and Jackson had called me in shortly before midnight. I was running on very little sleep."
"That's no excuse, Tim." Tobias lectured the young man. "It's not the first time that Gibbs has been lax in his duty of care to you. The dog attack and the mosquito infested hot tub are two incidents that I am aware of." The FBI agent reminded him.
"Gibbs and I will never have the relationship that he and Tony or he and Ziva share. But he has my six, when it counts." He resigned, but he was confident that Gibbs did have his six.
"Barely Tim. It frustrates me, NCIS are constantly in remiss of their duty of care towards you, Gibbs in particular." Tobias let out a large sigh, still frustrated at NCIS, but mostly at Gibbs. "I care about you, Tim and I care about your physical well-being, too. Don't get me started on mental and psychological well-being because that will get me even more angry and upset." He said putting his hands on the young man's shoulders.
"Give him some time to cool down, I probably pissed him off." Tim advised him, trying to catch Tobias' attention to calm him down.
"By doing what?! He was on assignment for two weeks before that! Did you breathe the wrong way, or something?" Tobias quipped at him angrily, getting frustrated that, in his opinion, Tim wasn't angry enough. "Don't want to see you hurt. I don't like it."
"Being hurt is a part of life, Tobias. It's what it means to be human." Tim reasoned. "But on a serious note, in a day or two, I'll be looking more normal and in a week or so the swelling will come down. Gibbs will eventually make amends, and we'll be back to the status quo."
"We'll just see about that." Tobias vowed.
"Director Vance?" Fornell exclaimed, surprised by the personal visit to his home. Tobias was in his sweatpants, his favourite blue flannel check shirt and socks. He had been working in his home office - which was his garage that he'd converted into an office. "Come in, what can I do for you?"
"Looking for McGee, actually. His place over there is locked up tighter than Fort Knox." Vance said as a fact. He had been over at the younger agent's home first. But he'd been surprised when he couldn't even get into the property. The gate was securely locked.
"He's in the living room." Tobias said hopefully. "He is supposed to be resting."
The duo walked into the living room, led by Tobias. They stopped short at the sight before them. Tim was spread out on the sofa in his MIT tee, navy blue NCIS sweatpants and thick black bed socks. His makeshift pillow was his NCIS sweatshirt rolled up in a ball under his head, his laptop resting haphazardly on the edge of the coffee table. Tim looked to be be a lot younger when he was asleep, with his boyish features shining through in his restful state. Tobias stepped forward, grabbing Emily's favourite mink blanket blanket from the arm chair and he gently covered Tim with it, lightly brushing his hair off his forehead.
"Don't wake him." Vance whispered, as he took in Tim's appearance and Fornell's paternalism with his young agent. "I can see he's in good hands with you."
Tobias gestured to the Director to follow him and lead him through the internal door into the garage/office. "Take a seat, Leon." Tobias instructed. He watched as Vance took in his home office. "I've spoken with Tim. I just have one question. Why was he dragged off to the gym if he'd been working since midnight."
"I had ordered McGee to take a break and I too wish to know why" Vance agreed.
"Why didn't you tell me it was Gibbs?" Tobias asked, straight to the point.
"You didn't ask." Leon answered , trying to protect their friendship.
"That's a bullshit excuse, Leon. Tim is a good friend, so good that he has become like a son to me, why wouldn't I want to know? Gibbs is definitely no angel, ask our mutual ex wife."
"I'm staying as far away from Mrs Sterling as possible." Vance jested at him and they shared a chuckle at Diane's expense.
"Well Gibbs wants to hope like hell she doesn't find out about this. Her attitude has done a complete three sixty when it comes to Tim. She's been a wonderful support of his in recent times."
"It sounds like you and Diane have adopted him." Vance joked, feeling like he had hit the nail on the head.
"Emily loves having Tim around. Tim's beginning to thrive, having stable familial relationships in his life now."
"Not to mention your friendship."
"Mentoring too, I've been helping Tim improve his skills as an agent. Gibbs doesn't use him to his full potential, either."
"I'll take that on board." Vance added, as he prepared to leave. "Oh before I forget, I trust these will reach Tim. The results of his DNA test."
"As soon as he wakes up, I'll pass them on." Tobias promised.
As they left Fornell's makeshift home office, he gently put the results on top of Tim's laptop screen before escorting Vance to the door, so he could take his leave.